Part 60
Sitemap --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- - More interesting items/ideas for a Bioshock Rapture MMORPG --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- - .' Part 60' . --- --- --- Humor ? So some employee delivered one pair of BD boots to the wrong place (Point Prometheus - Suchongs Audio Diary rant) and that defines 'mismanagement' on Ryan's part ?? YOU try running a City in the middle of Civil War, pretty much by yourself, with monsters wandering the street murdering and destroying, and YOU try to hire decent help when most people are in-hiding at home. One hopes Suchong didnt treat his fellow employees the way he did Little Sisters - maybe someday we will find the HR documenting complaints against him. Perhaps it was actually a fellow employee pushing Suchong's face into the Voice Adjustment machine and that BD drill scene (Artemis Suites BS1) was just a coverup (the poor BDs get blamed for everything...). . Rapture was a place of many strange ideas and no doubt mistakes and accidents : . Humor: Coulda had at least one: Ghost scene in one of the restrooms - titled "Bad Clams" (actually thats a David Letterman Joke for a Top 10 worst Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post pictures list) --- --- --- Possession by Eleanor of Little Sisters : This 'Possession' is important in the plot because They are the ones who do alot of the work to bring Delta back. But as per the Audio Diary Eleanors Linky she is still awake while this is happening which might allow her to have things brought to her (assume she can figure out how to override the lock on the Quarantine Room...), to talk to the Little Sisters, to more directly guide their various tasks (and others like Tenenbaum/The Thinker who she can get some assistance/knowledge from.) Even getting cooperation from some Big Daddies may have happened (useful for dragging heavy Alpha Suits around). The control-module for that Vita-Chamber might have been taken to her for all the 'fixing' work that was needed. Remote mind control is a bit on the dodgy 'fantasy' side. SO lemme take a crack at it to Sci-Fi-ify it. Psi powers, like disrupting someones mind (in your immediate vicinity) long enough to fake 'Teleport' is much simpler than 'controlling' another individual' miles away and 'seeing through their eyes'. We dont know what kind of changes Little Sisters (or THESE Little Sisters and/or Eleanor) have gotten. They may effectively have transmitter/recievers in their heads - some kind of biological radio (if not just some regular radio they could actually carry). Why not have a camera setup at the Vita-Chamber worksite at Adonis Spa, so Eleanor can see what is being done to guide the progress?? Some kind of mechanism/machines Eleanor could access could have been used to condition/reprogram/communicate with Big Daddies and Little Sisters brains which may have been expanded to include visual information or tying minds together. Who says the Vita-Chamber itself (or its critical guts and the plans/information about how they worked) werent actually brought to Eleanor to work on, OR that much could be done reprogramming it remotely ?? Whatever it was, it must have been quite tedious for Eleanor to do all the things required to rebuild/modify that Vita-Chamber and then ressurect Delta (but then she did have lots of time). A similar effect was the way that Eleanor communicated with Delta. Freeing_Father implies she was awake upto the completion of the 'Delta Resurrection'. After that, the messages from Eleanor flow to Delta while she is supposedly unconscious -- or rather just paralyzed, as we dont know the effects of her being pumped full of ADAM really might be. Sofias sedatives might not have been as effective as she thought. --- --- --- Evidence supporting my 600 foot baselevel for Rapture Sunlight sufficient to power photosynthesis in marine plants penetrates to a depth of approximately (~660 feet). We see some sky glow from some location in the Skyboxes (window views) So if you have some 'farms' (like kelp) in the ocean nearby they would have to be within that range. It drops off pretty rapidly so such uses should be pretty near the surface (the shallower parts of the Sea Mount volcano close to the surface...) --- --- Electrical Safety - an Issue in Rapture : That TV half submerged in water and still operating in Suchongs apartment (in BS1) is a pretty good trick. Even with the likely threat of leaks in Rapture, waterproofing appliances and equipment would be costly as well as not easily done. On the other hand, Suchong could afford expensive models which might be largely Bio-Electronics (neat would have been it being a Color model, like one seen in Porters Living Room in his 'Bat Cave'). That model doesnt look much like a OLED Flatscreen though. Simple protection is properly operating Circuit Breakers for all electic lines in the City. Which means that in the MMORPG woith all the dripping/splashing water the Player will be doing more than a little reseting of Circuit Breakers everywhere (better get a 'Team' member who has alot of training as an Electrician...) --- --- --- BS1 Distortion? Bodies on Public Display : Or are these others who resumed/continued smuggling after Fontaine was gone. We did see people labeled 'Smuggler' on public display in BS1. You could get the (intended?) impression that it was 'summary justice' by the 'evil' Ryan (that they were killed without due process by a murderous dictator), but it just as well could simply be smugglers killed fighting against arrest and put up on display to warn other would-be traitors that they would be stopped (certainly plenty of evidence of bodies seeming to last well longer than that in Rapture). Maybe Peach Wilkins is more recently 'cleaning up bad-uns' to stay on Ryan's good side? He feared Fontaine, so that might be a hint that Wilkins was the one that finally 'fingered' Fontaine and his Smuggling operation to the city authorities. Say that three times real fast : "Finally Fingered Fontaine" (too bad Wilkins name wasnt 'Fred Finnegan'..) Lack of an authorative narration opens up so much of the vague storyline to speculation. --- --- --- Things Too Sparse : It struck me (playing through BS1 again), how empty so many of the apartments were. Some places like apartments in Mercury Suites were quite large, but so sparsely furnished (and poorly lit by the lights you see present -- its not like you would EVER have sunlight coming in through any window). Power is cheap in Rapture, the Ocean is gloomy dark. Affluent people would want their places well lit (even in its decrepid state, the unlit light fixtures should still be in evidence. Looted? There then should be alot more discarded and destroyed stuff all over the place then. Really its just that they had a Rendering Budget for the Computer Game, which meant they could only have so many objects or terrain details in one place to support playability on a median level of Gaming Machine. The MMORPG would have to correct that (not be restricted by old rendering limitations like BS1 was). Computer Memory is cheaper now. Connection Bandwidth is higher. CPU Processing is much more powerful. Greater abilities of GPUs (and not just for graphics). Now all we gotta do is to GET all that content made and stitched together AND made into a decent game. --- --- --- Nico-Time Cigarettes from BaS1 (ehhhh WTF ????) : Betty: Hey, what's all this talk about cigarettes being bad for you? Garry: If the government had its way we'd all be scared of our own shadows! I'm the independant type, and thats why I smoke Nico-Time brand cigarettes. Betty: The government sure does like to tell me what to do. Garry: That's why I choose Nico-Time, because I like to make my own choices. Anybody get the idea than more than a few of the people who wrote the DLC stuff dont actually know much about the original games or its setting ??? "Government"? what government in Rapture would that be? ADAM turns people into twisted mutant murderous freaks and they are talking about some health notice from the Surface (only halfway plausible source of such 'talk' AND the Anti-Tobacco stuff didnt get Government involvement til well into the 60s anyway, and in 1952 the majority of the information flow ceased as well). And there is probably also ADAM Tonics for Cancers (awful lot of the ADAM research was medical related, ie- TB, Phossy Jaw, Bends, Headaches, etc..., not to mention Non-ADAM research/development) "THIS IS RAPTURRRRRRE !!!" (*kicks* Betty and Garry into the Bathysphere Dock hole ) --- --- --- Welcome to Rapture (Flashback) : One of the mini-adventures would be for the Player to experience a person's first coming to Old Rapture as an invited immigrant and going thru all the things they would have done : - Vetting Process on the Surface - might as well see how it was handled (several stages because of the secrecy) initial questionaires, interviews, etc... Actually HAVE a real questionaire the Player can fill out (no reallife info required or encouraged). - Sample Brochures and discrete confirmation notices and instructions - Preparations, mention arranging financial stuff - immigrants bring their wealth with them, transfer to a holding company to avoid a 'fire sale'. Immigrants would also bring many possessions, requiring packing and shipping to secure transfer depots - not quite this 'sneaking off in the night off a beach' for most of the people. - Leaving Wherever, getting to the embarkation point, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, and Ships. - Boat trip (tramp freighters used alot - a continuous stream of these to move 20000+ people and their stuff to Rapture) - Arrival at The Lighthouse, landing them and their 'luggage' (alot of it goes down a seperate way - and precontainerized cargo to expedite the transfer) - Trip down - similar to what we saw, minus the Ryan pep-talk, as that should have been covered ad nauseum long before this point (probably would get some basic instructions about next steps for 'Orientation') - Welcome Center - paperwork, orientation and tours (and medical quarantine if needed -- REAL reson 'Medical Pavilion' is right next to the Welcome Center.) - New Residence (people need to arrange where they will be living). Interim stay in the Hotel Monsenor. A trip to your new home. - Job or Business - many immigrants brought their tools and materials/supplies/goods with them - Arranging for relatives/family to be sent (families might be brought piecemeal to be less 'obvious' in their 'disappearance'.) Additional reletives could be convinced once a 'trustworthy' member had seen it wasnt all a sham. - Pre-visit by people who are going back but are organizing their installation into Rapture (more than a few rich people sent trusted agents/represenatives to make sure the place was on the up-and-up - particularly BEFORE investing in it) -- "Hey, do you believe in Economic and Personal Freedom and want to go to a place you can be truely free?? Im Andy Ryan and you now need to give me all your money now to buy yourself a ticket to my Paradise under the Sea !!!"). Keeping this process operating smoothly/efficiently/secretly for 20000-40000 people. Ryans organization on the Surface would be extensive to carry out this operation, and have to be even more to carry the overhead of the secrecy. Its logical that he continued to have and control a significant organization on the Surface long after Rapture was completed. --- --- --- Little Sisters - Happy as Clams : "Jim: You betcha! Ryan Industries has seen to it that they're bred to be as happy as clams while they do the work that keeps us safe from the bandits and terrorists. We all need ADAM, and we all need the Little Sisters." 'bred' ? Like they are grown in vats?? On the other hand was the Little-Sister-Vision scenes we saw thru one of their eyes (in BS2) a product of improved conditioning (they had to be conditions sufficiently to work with 'Daddies", and not just some simple potato-chip reward vs shock for picking the image of the BD system ). Imagine Fontaine's/Lamb's not particularly caring much how horrific a Little Sister's Experience was, while Ryan at least might listen to recommendations to facilitate efficient ADAM production and prevent revulsion from the population. (He no doubt rejected one suggestion that had the LS dress up in little clown outfits and possibly giant fuzzy-bunny suits for BDs) http://bioshock.wikia.com/wiki/Little_Sisters_and_Corpses ) Imagine what the public reaction would be for Little Sisters to look and act far worse (like Gollum or Carrot Top for instance ....) Ghoulish little rhymes - "Stick the Needle in and take 'The Precious'. Yum-Yum, best with Fava Beans and a Nice Chianti.", "Now get the hell over here and protect me you hulking piece of Junk !!!.", "What're YOU looking at !!!" "Little Billy never knew what hit him, heh heh heh" "This one isnt quite dead yet Daddy. Stomp him a few times til, he stops moving , would ya?"...). Fiendish : If LS drink the corpses blood to 'recover' the ADAM, then the ADAM isnt Stem-Cells (which would be tissue in the corpse) but rather something else ?? Now if they really needed to get the 'Stem Cells ... actually ate the flesh - hmm sharp teeth and blood running down their chins as they gulp down gobblets of flesh torn from the dead body. Raw Liver, yum.... --- --- --- Crazy Splicers have been chewing on the Copper power cable lines again : Theory - the copper tastes a bit like Plasmid sauce, which due to major shortages (or simply no more production) is rather hard to come by. The addiction remains. Yes, there was Psychological dependency in the ADAM addiction as well as Physical. Might be some relapses for the 'cured' Players who get cravings for ADAM (nice copper flavored chewing-gum...) The Player may find a few charred corpses (still seen with jaws locked on power cables) while investigating and being sent to repair various electrical lines as a City Mission. --- --- --- Ryan - "Perhaps it's time to give it a tug". What Ryan actually is saying ? : http://bioshock.wikia.com/wiki/Fontaine_Must_Go "Fontaine Must Go" -- Not a great title for the actual text: "Something must be done about Fontaine. While I was buying buildings and fish futures, he was cornering the market on genotypes and nucleotide sequences. Rapture is transforming before my eyes. The Great Chain is pulling away from me. Perhaps it's time to give it a tug." Very vague, as so many of these Audio Diaries are. Why would Ryan decry the building of a new industry, particularly one he could now choose to compete in and outdo Fontaine. Imply that he is a sore loser ?? When the game has barely begun ? When all his life he has played the game of competition and was good at it ?? Does it rather infer that "The Great Chain" has been moving backwards due to Fontaine's thuggery to 'corner the market' (monopolies gained by extorting/killing competitors) or using his illegal profits from the Smuggling Operation to warp the way business is supposed to operate in Rapture ? (money from one of the few things that IS a definite crime in Rapture, profiting at the expense of the whole City's safety... Treason) Is Ryan simply saying that he now is going to go into the ADAM business to give Fontaine some proper competition ?? (The Vita-Chamber for example may have been meant for big-time competition to many of the ADAM products... and without the ADAM side-effects which were making themselves ever more apparent). "Rapture is transforming before my eyes." eventually transforming obviously in a bad way. And into what? How far has Fontaine's tactics gone in a place allegedly set up with 'no laws' ( 'no laws' is a very stupid premise for any real society -- particularly when commercially complex). Fontaine literally getting away with theft, extortion, murder, treason, etc... (kind of ludicrous if you think about it - how easy the game writers made it happen that way). The Audio Diary text says nothing about what Ryan planned to do, but IT IS the plot setup for 'evil' 'hypocritical' Ryan "nationalizing" Fontaine's ADAM company and alludes to him simply doing it to wipe out a business rival (and it is later NOT really properly emphasized that Fontaine was a dangerous Traitor -- and his other crimes like virtually enslaving and terrorizing his employees are even more ignored). You actually hear (in BaS) countering arguments that should have been spelled out in the first games -- seen in Taking_the_Taint_Out_of_Fontaine in the DLC. And likewise, to mention actual reasons why Fontaine Futuristsics was 'nationalized', which the majority of the populace would actually agree with. Shutting it down ... yeah that would go over real well when the Splicers realized 'no more ADAM'. Not heard til BS2 (after Ryan is long gone and is only a sounding board for Lamb's collectivist drivel...) : " Jim: Sure thing, Mary. But Andrew Ryan didn't "take control" of anything. The government Council just assumed stewardship of Fontaine Futuristics until all of Frank Fontaine's crimes and betrayals against the people of Rapture are sorted out! Pretty soon everything will be back to normal. " Since Rapture was largely a 'hands off' society, they probably didnt have procedures for seizing and then reorganizing large assets from criminals like Fontaines huge organization. The plot compresses it into mere months, when even in our 'regulated' world, such things take years. --- --- --- Consistency of Construction in Rapture : Issues of engineering such a place as Rapture is to have things built to some minimum standards which are still more than enough for it to hold together for decades in the hazardous environment. Since a break in one place could flood a large area, sub-standard construction would NOT be allowed and proper containment mechanisms would be standard to protect extended areas from any break. There should be regular maintenance, but none that is particularly costly - more of identifying unexpected problems before they happen. And sorry, tinfoil like plane sections floating down thru water into the structure (even a glass viaduct) would NOT be enough to do any significant damage. There is 280psi pressing in on these structures and they are built like military bunkers. --- --- --- Farmers Market - Fun Whacking Casks Full of Wine Across a Room : Those are heavy, full (~ 8 lb per gallon - so a 12 gallon cask is about 100lb). If you could do that, you should have been able to do the same with many NPC opponents (really send them flying - a neat special effect Players would have appreciated, and the 'ragdoll' physics effects could have handled). For those Casks in Whorley Winery, it is more like they didnt have the attributes set right for the mass in the physics engine (yes they are full -- the spurting purple stuff gets shown ... and apparently they are also some amazing Rapture-tech self-sealing casks). Most of the physics in the Solo games were adaquate in detail level, and I myself would find it acceptable for the MMORPG if it meant we could have alot MORE objects actually manipulatable in-game. Some more damage types and interactions/results/side-effects would be added (ie- if you bash the cask and it leaks, then it loses its contents and thats now a puddle on the floor... and you now have an empty broken cask, possibly now in pieces.) MMORPG - Just about everything visible in the game can be manipulated -- THATS where a big omputer Processing expansion will need to be - lots more simulation, but also many more things to do, and for Players to be creative with. --- --- --- WYK Crush Fontaine's Skull : Ryan, as a rich man, would have been bombarded with many conmen in his lifetime, and would have developed an attitude, if not ways, of handling them. So when Ryan fully discovered Fontaine's gambit with Jack (when?) and that False identity as Atlas, he would have been well ready for handling that situation. I could just see Ryan saying to himself : " If Fontaine could fake his own death, then why cant I, and I will catch that miserable Parasite within his own trap. Like all parasites, he needs to feel the crush of the Heel ". --- --- --- Saturnine Symbols Written In Bioluminescent Paint ??? : Seeing a few Saturnine Splicers all glowey (along with some nice dark rooms we had to enter) might have been impressive (issue with 6+years ago rendering/lighting issues ???) Seeing better Saturnine glowey symbols in dark places (and/or in flickering lights) on their props or trails of them might have also been a neat effect. Having their strange symbols painted on the faces of half the corpses in Arcadia... A lone Saturnine wandering/skulking around Farmers Market or hung up on a meathook in one of the freezers... So much imagination, so little game to have it in. --- --- --- The Audio Diaries : With all the odd places we find them in Bioshock, oddly strewn in often just the right order in our path (one wonders at alot of things). Bit of a coincidence... How convienently contrive these things were.. Well, its a fricken choiceless "Player is led by the nose" game, What else would you expect ??? Anyway, they are just lying about, convenient for us to find - some Splicers just skadaddled ahead of our arrival in a bit of a hurry (the Splicer Grape Vine told of a Monster making its way around Rapture and IT was now headed in THEIR direction......) It is possible that Splicers used these recordings for entertainment, or even as a kind of trade good which might account for them being carried just about anywhere in Rapture. Funny would have been a few re-taped over ones, or with snippets of additional recordings either added later or remnants of a previous recording overwritten by the original speaker : - Ryans comment on some marketing dweeb suggesting new Plasmids deployed via Suppositories - Fontaine trying different accents while trying to figure out a new replacement identity - "THIS IS RAPTURRRRRE!!! ..." - The Thinker, doing Porter, doing a stand up comic monologue. - Whale Songs, and the Sonar pulse sound from Ice Station Zebra - That strange sound the TARDIS makes when it de-materializes - Someone saying : "Is this ON, no, good, So you sees, Im plannin on sticking a shotgun up Fontaine's butt when hes asleep and blowing that $#%^ers head off and makin myself Boss .... Whatta ya think Reggie, are you in ???" - Gag tape of Sofia Lamb's Metamorphosis "book" readings, with farts inserted, and laughter.... - A drunk McDonagh whining about how he "is not really appreciated in Rapture and the whole place will go to Hell if he was gone..." - A rejected tape from "A Journey to the Surface" of Ryan shouting "Dont Be Stupid!! If You Go To The Surface, YOU.. WILL.. DIE !!!!" - An excerp from "Cats Sing the Classics" - a humorous commercial record of faked cats 'singing' recogizable classical tunes of Beethoven, Mozart, Handel, etc... - Doc Hollcroft's list of ingredients (things the drinkers of his 'medicine' would NOT want to find out were in it.) - First half of an Obscene joke at Sander Cohens expense, but the punch line is cut off. - "Secret" *transcribed* comment from a Big Daddy about a particularly sickeningly sweet Little Sister. A recommendation that vomit bags be installed in the BD suits. - Sofia Lamb shrieking "No More Wire Hangers, Ever!!" - Splicer Reality Show - One being 'Voted' out of the House, followed by shrieks, screaming and sickening crunching sounds. --- --- --- Jack the Insane (Spliced up more than most in Rapture ever did...) : First, how could you tell? You dont see him to see if there are any changes (his hands being the part you usually see and then they are warped by the Plasmids he is using). Crazy part of being a Splicer? He walks around slaughtering people wholesale -- sounds alot like typical Splicer behavior to me. He isnt really there for very long, so the genetic damage might not be resulting quite yet (repeated/long/excessive ADAM use is mentioned, else most people would never have used it if the tumors and such manifested themselves that quickly). Somewhere it says that you start to mutate when you dont keep taking ADAM (more like your original genetics try to re-assert themselves conflicting with the partial RNA in the remaining ADAM). Later plasmids/tonics may have been improved by Ryan's research - its not like Ryan would want MORE crazy deformed people in Rapture when his intentions were rebuilding his City. --- --- --- The Lazarus Vector may have tied in to Ryan's plans for a 'Cure' : Unfortunatly plants are different from animals, and significant work would be needed to find an equivalent (if any such existed) for humans. Ryan had to be planning such things to save his City from ADAM. Langford's death was likely 'faked', just like Ryan's was (we certainly ran into enough Splicers 'playing dead' and who says that gas was 'toxic' especailly when WE walk into the room moments later with no harm done). If all else failed, there no doubt would be lots of agricultural infrastructure that would need reviving after all the lack of tending, caused by the Civil War. --- --- --- Were 'Corpses' Really a Sustainabble Resource for the Production of ADAM ? : Seriously, they start to run out after most Splicers (who are only a subset of the population) are dead (and used up/recycled already). It cant be a 100% recovery either. Also, the longer the remaining Splicers go without more ADAM, then isnt there less and less of it in their bodies as it breaks down ?? (reason why they need more in the first place...) Corpses are more often those who's abilities (ADAM) 'ran out' ? Of course, with fewer people (or Splicers rather) left alive, then there IS a decreasing demand ?? Little Sister do create ADAM whether they 'drink' corpses or not. (Unless they get killed out there trying to find the ever more rare corpses). Burning corpses destroys the ADAM in them ?? Freeze damage likewise ?? Even electrical current destroys tissue (and potentially(pun) any ADAM in it). Lots of bodies simply are NOT recoverable, and rats and thing gnaw on some as well, before LS ever can find them. More ADAM gone.... After the Pheromeone Control is in operation, will Splicers be killing each other all that much any more? Many fewer corpses ?? More and more LS should be back sitting home, generating ADAM safely. Was Fontaine actually using 'Soylent Green' to feed the poor people he was scamming (he called it SPAM, but really was it ??) Even at the start (Eleanor and Delta 'gathering' on New years 1959), were there that many corpses already around Rapture to have warranted 'Gatherers' ? (and before that, since there was a significant lead time to be able to create 'Protectors', as well). --- --- --- Finally - New and Improved Plasmids/Tonics came in orally applied form (and less popular Suppository form maybe ...) : Many people dont like needles (especially ones the size of knitting needles) and more would not want to do the injections themselves). Maybe addicted Splicers dont care, but these were meant to be consumer items for less enthusiastic users (Ryan/Sinclair would capitalize on that to push their versions, if Fontaine didnt) Ditto for 'Eve', which actually would be 'applied' far more frequently. --- --- --- Fire in MMORPG Rapture, not so Nice and Tidy any more : Fires exhaust the air (oxygen) or builds up sufficient Carbon Dioxide to make it toxic (even with oxygen remaining). Other toxics in the smoke can be even worse (some plastics give off cyanide when burnt). Things continue to burn until the fuel or the oxidizing component runs out (and even without flame they can smoulder for extended time). Post Civil War ventilation in Rapture isnt as good as it once was : Limited Circulation = Limited Air (New Rapture is definitely working on that issue). But all those trash cans burning we saw or puddles of flaming chemicals - was that why we saw so many corpses - actually they were dead of Asphyxiation ?? (accept we then were in those places as Jack and any bad air seemed to have little effect on us.) Items near/in the fire can be damaged or destroyed and can burn even more or explode spreading the fire further. Flinging fire around and setting ammunition on fire isnt a good thing .... Another thing to have the Safety Doors close for - automatics preventing the spread of fire and toxic gases and potentially to stop fire by depriving it of oxygen. Vents have containment doors/valves also. --- --- --- Not 'Moral Choices', but LACK of them in this game : In fort Frolic, you actively set out to hunt down and kill the 3 people Cohen wants 'for his Masterpiece'. It is not as incidental as Exiting that from the initial Bathysphere Station along the only path offered and the Splicer guy goes straight at you (after throwing some flaming furniture at you). But that leaves you with little choice as well. At Fort Frolic there is NO direct "Would You Kindly" in effect for these killings (imagine what fun Sander Cohen might have had with you if HE knew he could control you like that !!) Sorry - you are given no choice, just do it... Do the madman's assasinations for him to get your reward. The funny thing is the biggest monster of all - Cohen - is the one they give a choice of killing or not (but only after you commit the murders for him). And no real consequences whichever way you decide. Little Sisters Harvest vs Save ? Covered elsewhere what a sham that 'moral choice' is. --- --- --- Mission Design (Need for Sort-of Obvious Clues) : For this MMORPG game, you dont want details of Missions to become too tedious (versus the old pixel search mouseover style game mechanism when crude static scenes had to be searched for items to be found which had to be recognized against the background and manually selected). The value is in clever/interesting presentation of a mini-story, which can get bogged down in its telling, if the Player is stuck in generic 'collecting' mode (which they can do in the sandbox part of the game to their hearts-content). (Mmmmm, tasty Spider Splicer Organs...) You want to keep the 'Mission' moving forward, so various interesting Clues might get 'telegraphed' to the Player (highlighted after a certain delay, or have a Player's 'Team' Minions point it out). There should be suggestive clues through interaction with the local environment (reason why the Missions are choreographed versus the sandbox part of the game). The process of solving the situation is the emphasis of the Mission gameplay. The MMORPG Creation Tools would(better) make all this composable for the elements of a Mission. The Creation Community Reviewers can tell a submission's Author to make certain 'Clues' less obscure or less tedious to obtain (or offer additions), when appropriate. Progresssive schemes can be done where the more you 'solve', the more goodies you can earn. --- --- --- More Useable Assets from various Loading Screens and Such : http://www.game-archivist.com/rapture/ Asset Created by Players will have alot of existing material to copy/modify, but can also be used to get ideas from alot of this pre-exsiting stuff. --- --- --- Bad Water - All of the jugs of Distilled Water, not just so the owner would water down the drinks.. : Simply the water systems was unreliable for potable water (or what came out of the taps was really bad). Activate a 'Sink' (BS1) and the water has an orange hue. What comes out of the taps in Rapture? McDonagh might have prefered brass fittings (as detailed in the Novel) , but other people might have cheaped out. SO Rust from pipes after 15 years (20 by BS2). And both would get whatever fisrt goes into the pipes at the other end, and with Rapture's maintenance (on the utility systems) falling into great decline, you might be lucky to get any water at all. Example in the Mermaid Lounge in Sirens Alley - distilled water (Artisan brand jugs we see) was served to customers with their meal (since there is extensive kitchen facilities there and customers, before they were told that Monster was coming thru the airlock and most people got the hell out of there). Lots of bathtubs seem to have been used to store water (abandoned ones got pretty slimey). --- --- --- --- Task of Eliminating Game Exploits/Griefing : The Game Programmimg to achieve something like this MMORPG would require alot of associations/expectations to be well-defined between the groups/individuals (Players/NPCs) and for predictable/proper repercussions to actions (LOTS and LOTS of scripted logic). "Planners" (an AI technique) would be used with the significant difficulty of developing the Evaluator Functions (which decision priorities are based on -- particularly in a game with lots of unknowns/incomplete information/uncertainty to deal with. The scripting for the MMORPG's more detailed/interactive World obviously will be voluminous, not just for the Player vs Environment interactions, but also for what the NPCs will use and react to them. PLAYERS CREATING this volume scripting is what will make it all possible (just a few expert programmers/scripters can create amazing improvements that can make the game better for the thousands of other Players) Anti-Griefing measures would have to be in place, first sufficiently restricting combat between Players (you KNOW that there are the mental-cases who WILL use any loophole/cheat to express their Sociopathy, even if they are eventually thrown out of the game). Preventing intentionally done indirect interference/disruption/cheating (ie- Loot Stealing) may take some creativity and work on the game Programmers part (as much as the Cheaters who try to find ways of doing it). The game system I envision would be one huge 'on-the-fly' built instance, so it may not be too hard to most-of-the-time have unassociated Players kept apart, without appearing too heavy-handed. But this IS a multi-player game, and there WILL be ALOT of inter-player interactions (possibly in more ways than most games), so the problem will still be significant. Fortunately, this games overall design makes improvement more likely than you have in your typical MMORPG. --- --- --- . .